Mom, child killed in crash on north I-5 at checkpoint

NORTH COUNTY  A 28-year-old Oceanside woman and her 4-year-old daughter died Tuesday when their SUV smashed into the back of a Ralphs grocery store delivery truck on north Interstate 5, south of the Orange County line.

Many drivers who witnessed the crash or saw the wreckage right after were distraught, one woman posted on Twitter.

“I saw many drivers crying,” Kimberly Hale Miller tweeted. “It was just awful, never seen anything like it.”

Northbound traffic was halted for nearly an hour. Even after two lanes opened, the backup worsened and extended as far south as Oceanside Boulevard.

The collision occurred about 9:20 a.m. when the tractor-trailer rig stopped in the right lane to exit at the truck scales between Las Pulgas and Basilone roads, near the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint, California Highway Patrol Officer Jim Bettencourt said.

He said the woman was driving a GMC Yukon also in the right lane and hit the back of the truck at freeway speed. The Yukon was demolished and the truck’s back axle broke in the impact.

Firefighters cut apart the vehicle, but both mother and child were dead. The girl was in a car seat in the back seat, Bettencourt said. Both were wearing seat belts.

All northbound traffic was halted when a medical helicopter landed on the freeway, but it turned out that it was not needed, Bettencourt said. The truck driver was unhurt. It is not believed alcohol or drugs were involved.

Miller tweeted that it was “truly terrible,” that the Ralphs driver was traumatized and Border Patrol agents were emotional as they covered the bodies.

“I have cried multiple times since seeing it all,” Miller posted.

The carpool lane and one left lane were opened about 10:30 a.m. All lanes were opened about 2:15 p.m.